Halibut in Parchment with Fennel and Oranges

It’s funny that out of the handful of recipes I have on this blog, this is my second post about fish, because I’ve only cooked fish three times in my lifetime.

I had my parents over to our house last week for dinner and I wanted to make something easy, simple and delicious. Halibut is in season, and I always love fennel and orange. Usually in a beet salad, but for some reason I got this idea in my head of halibut, fennel and orange in parchment packets and I couldn’t shake it. Thus, a dinner menu was born. I served this with basmati rice and steamed bok choy. For dessert, we had amazing roasted rhubarb over vanilla ice cream. I am still dreaming of that rhubarb – if only the stalks would grow back overnight…

You’ll need:

Fresh halibut for 4, divided into 4 pieces

1 fennel bulb + fronds

1/4 cup parsley

1 orange

Butter

Salt + Pepper

4 sheets parchment

Slice the fennel, roughly chop your parsley, and supreme the orange and set aside so you are ready to assemble. Keep the membranes from your orange, you’ll use their juice. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

On your first sheet of parchment, lay out a bed of fennel and place a piece of fish on top. Top with a pat of butter, and salt and pepper. Then assemble 1/4 of the orange slices, more of the fennel, parsley and fennel fronds on top. Squeeze a bit of the orange juice over the fish, and seal the parchment packet by folding the edges together. You’ll want the seam facing up while the fish is baking so the juices do not escape. Repeat for each piece of fish, and place your four packets on a baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes.